


Transience

by fruitcakes



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, What am I doing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-17 04:46:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10586709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fruitcakes/pseuds/fruitcakes
Summary: And in the middle of it all, was Soonyoung. Soonyoung—excited, and smiling so wide it exposed all of his teeth and happiness. With sand between his toes and salt in the air, he found it hard to suppress the giggles.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Has a little to do with the poem, [A Photograph](http://www.english-for-students.com/A-Photograph.html)  
> and a lot to do with me.

_"Mountains or the beach?"_

_"Mountains."_

 

The beach was littered with people—fat old ladies wearing ugly floral print dresses, little girls with pigtails and pot-bellied old men. And in the middle of it all, was Soonyoung. Soonyoung—excited, and smiling so wide it exposed all of his teeth and happiness. With sand between his toes and salt in the air, he found it hard to suppress the giggles. He bounced on the balls of his feet like a four year old and turned to look towards his left. Wonwoo laughed at Soonyoung’s childlike behaviour. There are things you never expect to see and for Wonwoo, this was one of them. 

He grabbed Soonyoung’s hand and started leading him towards the sea. 

The cacophony of the alarm cut through the silence in the room. Soonyoung stirred as the yellows and blues faded from his vision. Loud and obnoxious, the alarm continued to blare till Soonyoung was awake enough to turn it off. 

The silence returned and settled once more, bringing with it the unease of a new day. 

Soonyoung stared at the ceiling as he tried to remember the dream in vivid detail. And then he stored it in his mind as proxy for memories that he will never make. 

It was a Saturday and Saturdays are okay days. There's no school and that's as good as things could get. Soonyoung sleepily climbed down the stairs to greet an empty house. His parents had left for work and "the sandwiches are in the blue box! Warm them up before you eat! <3" 

Soonyoung ripped the pink post it off and tossed it into the bin. The sandwiches were not, in fact, in the blue box. They were in the purple box. But his mom never really cared for colours. Blue, black, and purple– they were all the same to her. 

Soonyoung sat and stared at the okay looking salami sandwich. It looked appetising enough but Soonyoung didn't have an appetite. 

Pushing it aside he sat down to watch television. MasterChef Australia was on. Half an hour later, His phone vibrated erratically in his pyjama pocket.

It was a customised vibration resembling staccato heartbeats—funny in a way because they were an imitation of Soonyoung’s own heart when he felt them. 

 

_good morning_

_do you want pancakes?_

 

Soonyoung’s stomach grumbled loudly. Coincidence is strange. 

 

_Maple syrup or chocolate syrup?_

_maple_

 

_Is there iced tea_

 

_I can make some if get here in 10 minutes_

 

_Done done London_

 

_Lame_

 

Jumping off the sofa, Soonyoung knocked the TV remote onto the floor and winced when it clattered on the tile. He kicked it under the table and ran to the bathroom. The call of pancakes drenched in maple syrup made him get dressed and ready in a record time of 8 minutes. 

Wonwoo opened the door before he could even press the bell.  

"Ok so where are the pancakes?" He said, looking at the empty kitchen counter. 

Wonwoo pulled up his "god why do I put up with you" expression. 

"It's in the living room. I was setting up a movie." 

"Which one?" He asked as they made their way to the living room. The warm smell of vanilla laced the air. 

"Mulan. Will you stay to watch?" 

"No. I don't think you should watch either. Don't you have tests coming up next week?" 

Wonwoo suddenly looked sheepish. "Well, yeah but I need a break okay! I've been working myself to death." 

"Yeah. Finishing stranger things in 2 days must have been a real task." 

"I hate you." 

"Me too." 

And then no more was said because pancakes are important and they demanded full attention. 

When they had eaten all the pancakes and licked the syrup off the plates so well there was no need to wash them, they sat back on the couch. The movie had been muted and long forgotten as they tapped away on their phones. 

The synced sound of their breathing gave Soonyoung some strange brand of courage. 

"I had a dream last night." 

Wonwoo sat up and raised his eyebrows. "Yeah? What about?" 

Soonyoung told him all about the dream. About the cold weather, about how he had been excited and happy and how Wonwoo had held his hand and laughed at him. 

Wonwoo smiled. "I wasn't laughing _at_ you! I was laughing _with_ you." He justified, as if it had happened for real. 

Soonyoung’s smile slid off his face at that. "Doesn't matter either way. It was just a dream." 

And he hated himself for putting a damper on things. 

Wonwoo clicked his tongue. "I'll take you to the beach one day.  I promise." He reached forward and brushed Soonyoung’s fringe out of the way so he could look at his eyes. 

"Okay." 

 

~ 

Summer came early that year. By the time it was mid May, temperatures were peaking. Soonyoung longed for a day off but his boss was on his case, and there was no escape from the sticky-sweet smells of the flower shop. 

The daffodils were looking a little faint. Soonyoung was carefully tending to them when his phone went off with that same irregular vibration. Months later, and it was a still an excellent pantomime of his heart. 

"The heat is killing me. I'm a puddle of slime. Help me escape." He whined as soon as the call connected.

The complaint wasn't necessary but it felt so, when he was rewarded with a hearty laugh on the other end. "No can do, my friend. The weather here is excellent, though." 

"Of course it is." He scoffed in mock-anger and true-envy. 

"I want to go the beach. It's so nice outside." Wonwoo said with a wistful sigh. 

"Then go. You live real close by, don't you?" He asked as his fingers fiddle pointlessly with the stems of the flowers. 

There was a pause. "I don't want to." 

"Why not?" 

"Because if I go, I'll miss you." 

 

~

The pages of his notebook flutter in the wind, as Soonyoung looks across the shore at the vast ocean and the horizon that stretches across. 

He is on the deserted beach all by himself. Wonwoo isn't here. But the sand is still warm beneath his feet and the tide that brushes across the tips of his toes is still a cool disturbance. The sunset, he thinks, would have been better had the peach and coral been accompanied by the pink of Wonwoo's cheeks—the tint that spreads high on his cheekbones when he's happy. 

Even when the days were grim with the soot of negativity, Soonyoung had never deluded himself. And he's glad for that now. Because if he had, Wonwoo's absence in this moment would have hurt deeply. 

Contrary to that, it now feels right. It doesn't cut deep, just grazes his skin like the cool breeze offsetting the warmth of the late summer sun. 

He makes a small circle in the sand, writes his name. Then, as an afterthought, writes Wonwoo's name too. Then brushes his hands and begins to walk off. 

Seconds later the ocean rushes in to erase all evidence of the remnants of his pining, whispering a little message without words. 

 

_Time and tide wait for none._

 


End file.
